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HONG KONG, Oct 4- Hong Kong shares held on to slight gains on Thursday as financials led by index heavyweight HSBC helped offset weakness in oil producers, hurt by lower crude prices. *HSBC Holdings advanced 1.8 percent after the bank, Europe's largest lender, said its core tier 1 ratio was above the levels required by the European Banking Authority.

DUBAI, Oct 4- HSBC Holdings Plc is to significantly scale back the scope of its global Islamic banking operations, as the business becomes the latest area to be affected by a wider restructuring at the UK- based bank.

Barclays announced a shake up at its investment banking business aimed at streamlining the business in the face of a more challenging outlook for the industry. Wells Fargo's international group named Christopher Lewis as executive vice-president and head of global trade services.

LONDON, Oct 4- The failure of one Britain's big banks would still wreak market havoc and leave taxpayers on the hook as more needs to be done to curb their complexity and risks, the country's top banking supervisor said on Thursday.

*Swire Properties to have public float of 18 percent after sale. HONG KONG, Oct 4- Swire Properties Ltd shares sank up to 4.4 percent after the Hong Kong unit of the developer's parent agreed to sell its direct stake in the group for HK $4.88 billion, helping it towards meeting a regulatory requirement.

BRUSSELS, Oct 3- Britain warned on Wednesday it would be unacceptable for the European Central Bank to have too dominant a role in a new system of supervision designed to watch over the region's banks.

MOSCOW, Oct 3- Promsvyazbank, one of Russia's largest privately owned lenders, revealed the details of its initial public offering both in Moscow and London in a deal seen as a test for equity raising by other domestic banks.

CAIRO, Oct 3- A trickle of foreign donor aid looks like Egypt's best hope of averting a balance of payments crisis for now because many of the investors who fled the country last year are loath to return until the government seals a loan from the IMF.

*Strong demand for deal; order books over $6 billion. DUBAI, Oct 3- Qatar Islamic Bank, the Gulf Arab state's largest sharia-compliant lender, returned to global debt markets after two years with a $750 million Islamic bond sale on Wednesday, tapping into strong liquidity for regional issuers.

LONDON, Oct 3- Deutsche Bank is set to be the bank most affected, with profits hit hardest, by proposals to separate higher risk banking activities from traditional deposit-taking business, which are likely to affect about 20 banks, analysts said.

Once upon a time, the foreign exchange (FX) markets enjoyed a clear framework for trading and were seen as a reflection of the health of global economies. But as central bank programs of quantitative easing have been introduced, currency market trades are not so clear cut, according to analysts at HSBC.

Oct 03- New Islamic banks set up in Oman will struggle initially to compete with established conventional banks offering sharia-compliant services when the country opens up its banking market, Fitch Ratings says.